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Why are my daffodils not flowering?

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  • 12-03-2012 12:28pm
    #1
    PresidentMike
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭


    I have a few daffodils planted that are not flowering.
    The 1st year they had flowers, 2nd year they didn't, and this year only one had flower, all the others have the green stem but no flower.
    Why??
    Is there something I can do? or shall I just dig them out?


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    #2
    MarchDub
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    PresidentMike wrote: »
    I have a few daffodils planted that are not flowering.
    The 1st year they had flowers, 2nd year they didn't, and this year only one had flower, all the others have the green stem but no flower.
    Why??
    Is there something I can do? or shall I just dig them out?

    In my experience this happens with any bulbs that have grown - multiplied - too close together. I had this happen with lilies and got no flowers after a few years until I dug them out, pulled the bulbs apart and replanted them all further apart from each other. Bulbs multiply very quickly year to year and need to be thinned out and spread.


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    #3
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 29,342 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    MarchDub wrote: »
    In my experience this happens with any bulbs that have grown - multiplied - too close together. I had this happen with lilies and got no flowers after a few years until I dug them out, pulled the bulbs apart and replanted them all further apart from each other. Bulbs multiply very quickly year to year and need to be thinned out and spread.

    So does this need to be done with (miniature) daffs that I have planted in window boxes? First year for the them this year, and they came up a bit thinner than I expected - - will they be ok to leave alone for next year?

    Also, should I deadhead them as the flowers fade?

    (sorry for hijacking your thread, OP!)


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    #4
    MarchDub
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    HeidiHeidi wrote: »
    So does this need to be done with (miniature) daffs that I have planted in window boxes? First year for the them this year, and they came up a bit thinner than I expected - - will they be ok to leave alone for next year?

    Also, should I deadhead them as the flowers fade?

    (sorry for hijacking your thread, OP!)

    I have no experience with bulbs in boxes - but funny you should ask about miniature daffs because I have them planted in a flower bed and forgot to thin them out last year and they have come up this year with flowers, badly clustered together but with flowers on them - maybe the miniature bulbs/flowers survive better when clustered? Don't know - the lilies I mentioned had been neglected for too long anyway so maybe they all need tending after a few years. I would suggest however thinning them after a while anyway.

    Edit: Just noticed that you asked about deadheading them A gardener friend of mine suggests that after the flowers die to deadhead them - but I have left mine until everything dies before cutting back and they have done fine.


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    #5
    Sonnenblumen
    Registered Users Posts: 5,834 ✭✭✭Sonnenblumen


    Ideally all daffs including dwarf varieties (Narcissi) should be dead headed after blooms fade. It is very important that the leaves are allowed to die off naturally before cutting/removal. Early cutting of leaves will starve the bulbs of the ability to build up sufficient food resources for following year's flowering.

    This could explain why you are encountering problems with flowering. Another possible cause of fewer flowers is slug damage.


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    #6
    PresidentMike
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭PresidentMike


    Sonnenblumen wrote: »
    It is very important that the leaves are allowed to die off naturally before cutting/removal.

    I think that may well be the cause of the problem. I suspect my neighbour trimmed them with the lawnmower :eek: ....


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    #7
    PresidentMike
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭PresidentMike


    MarchDub wrote: »
    I had this happen with lilies and got no flowers after a few years until I dug them out, pulled the bulbs apart and replanted them all further apart from each other.

    Thanks for the tip. That's something I can try although they were not many bulbs (initially), maybe 10 or 12 and each one was planted maybe 500mm apart of each other... But I guess I can dig one out and see how it looks.


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    #8
    PresidentMike
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭PresidentMike


    Sonnenblumen wrote: »
    Ideally all daffs including dwarf varieties (Narcissi) should be dead headed after blooms fade.

    What exactly does that mean? You just take the head out? Is the head the bit where the flower is (I guess...)? Do you pull it or trim it with scissors?


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    #9
    emo72
    Registered Users Posts: 6,274 ✭✭✭emo72


    PresidentMike wrote: »
    What exactly does that mean? You just take the head out? Is the head the bit where the flower is (I guess...)? Do you pull it or trim it with scissors?

    what your doing is pulling off the part where the seeds would develop. deadheading is stopping the plant from using up energy creating seed.

    instead the energy is conserved and it stores the unspent energy in the bulb.hence better flowers the following year.


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    #10
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users Posts: 29,342 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    PresidentMike wrote: »
    What exactly does that mean? You just take the head out? Is the head the bit where the flower is (I guess...)? Do you pull it or trim it with scissors?

    I just pinch the dead flower heads off with my fingers - hope that's right! Open to correction if anyone on here knows better....


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    #11
    PresidentMike
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭PresidentMike


    emo72 wrote: »
    what your doing is pulling off the part where the seeds would develop. deadheading is stopping the plant from using up energy creating seed.

    instead the energy is conserved and it stores the unspent energy in the bulb.hence better flowers the following year.

    You seem to know the stuff. Thanks for the tip.


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